Saturday, May 28, 2011

According to Bill Shaikin and Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times, Frank McCourt has cobbled enough money to meet his payroll obligations for May 31. He's lucky that with all of those houses, there are plenty of sofa cushions under which to look! But for us Dodger fans looking for a merciful end to this purgatory, it looks like we'll have to wait at least until the next payroll, June 15, to see what happens:

Owner Frank McCourt has met the Dodgers' May 31 payroll, holding off a potential takeover of the team by the commissioner's office, two people familiar with the situation said Friday.

McCourt remains in search of funding to meet the team's June 15 payroll, according to one of the people, neither of whom was authorized to speak publicly. If McCourt were to fail to meet a payroll, the league would cover the expenses and would have the option to seize the Dodgers from him.

McCourt is trying to stay afloat until a June 22 court hearing, when he hopes for a ruling that his ex-wife, Jamie McCourt, has no standing to challenge a proposed television contract between the Dodgers and Fox. Even if Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon rules in Frank McCourt's favor, the deal could be vetoed by Commissioner Bud Selig.

The amount of money needed to meet payroll will increase in June, when the Dodgers must pay Manny Ramirez more than $6 million in deferred compensation, according to two people familiar with the Ramirez contract. The payroll comes due on June 15 and 30, with the Ramirez payment slated for June 30, one of the people said.

Shaikin has been all over McCourt's financial situation and obligation dates--shoot, Tom Schieffer should hire Shaikin on his staff--but it's still hard to tell if McCourt is going to be able to make the deadlines each time. One might think that, if McCourt's leverage is indeed as great as everyone is saying, it's just a matter of time until his access to capital fully dries up. But in the meantime, there Frank is, accelerating payments and borrowing heavily against the future to get liquidity today.

If this IS just a matter of time, it would be nice to get this over soon and just move on. The waiting is the hardest part.

Gotta love those primary-colored '80s sets. And wow, Tom Petty is not a good-looking man.